Maps

Mapped: Every State’s Biggest Source of Tax Revenue

Published

1 month ago

August 21, 2024

Pallavi Rao

Graphics/Design:

Miranda Smith

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

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Mapped: Every State’s Biggest Source of Tax Revenue

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Most of America’s federal government revenue is raised through personal and corporate income taxes. But how do individual states raise money for government activities?

We visualize each state’s largest source of tax revenue, color-coded by personal income, sales, or other taxes. Data was sourced from Pew Research and is current up to 2023.

ℹ️ Sales include general and selective sales taxes. Other taxes include levies on corporate income, licenses, property, and severance taxes.

Breaking Down Every State’s Tax Revenue Share

A vast majority of states raise most of their tax revenue through general and selective sales taxes. Here’s the share of each category to all the tax collected by each state.

State	Personal Income Tax (%)	Sales Tax (%)	Other Tax (%)
Alabama	35	48	17
Alaska	0	9	91
Arizona	21	64	15
Arkansas	25	52	23
California	44	34	22
Colorado	37	44	19
Connecticut	40	40	20
Delaware	37	10	53
Florida	0	80	20
Georgia	49	35	16
Hawaii	30	61	9
Idaho	29	51	20
Illinois	35	43	22
Indiana	39	54	7
Iowa	36	48	16
Kansas	34	43	23
Kentucky	35	49	16
Louisiana	30	51	19
Maine	39	48	13
Maryland	41	43	16
Massachusetts	53	30	17
Michigan	31	49	20
Minnesota	41	37	22
Mississippi	23	64	13
Missouri	50	40	10
Montana	49	20	31
Nebraska	41	47	12
Nevada	0	77	23
New Hampshire	4	29	67
New Jersey	36	40	24
New Mexico	19	37	44
New York	47	26	27
North Carolina	43	46	11
North Dakota	8	30	62
Ohio	29	65	6
Oklahoma	32	40	28
Oregon	64	20	17
Pennsylvania	31	49	20
Rhode Island	34	55	11
South Carolina	37	48	15
South Dakota	0	85	15
Tennessee	0	74	26
Texas	0	85	15
Utah	48	41	11
Vermont	27	33	40
Virginia	45	38	17
Washington	2	74	24
West Virginia	35	45	20
Wisconsin	39	44	17
Wyoming	0	45	55

Note: Figures rounded. New Hampshire and Washington report capital gains and dividends collections under personal income tax. Oregon reports corporate activity taxes under sales tax.

For six states with no broad-based personal income tax (South Dakota, Florida, Texas, Nevada, Washington, and Tennessee), sales taxes contribute more than 70% to all tax dollars raised.

Then, in direct contrast to neighbor Washington, Oregon has no sales tax, so personal income tax is their majority collection.

For states with a higher median income (California, New York, Massachusetts) the largest share is personal income tax.

And then there are the states which don’t fall in either of the two main categories. For example, Alaska also has no personal income tax but makes most of its revenue through severance tax (listed under Other). It also benefits from the Permanent Fund and federal transfers.

Similarly, New Hampshire has no general sales or personal income tax. So, collections from corporate income and business profits are the majority sources of tax revenue.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Wondering how much of your income goes towards the various state taxes? Check out Visualizing the Tax Burden of Every U.S. State for the ultimate breakdown.